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Strong voices, prayers lift up Aurora one year after theater shooting

Madeline Curley, center, praised the Lord in song at the beginning of a worship service on Wednesday, July 17, 2013, dedicated to the victims of the Aurora theater shooting last year. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Stefan Moton, a 20-year-old man paralyzed from the neck down after being shot in an Aurora movie theater a year ago, flashed his smile Wednesday night — a smile his pastor, Chris Hill, said "rivals the sun."

"We believe morning is coming to Aurora," Hill told more than 3,000 at The Potter's House of Denver. "Aurora means the dawn."

To Moton, Hill yelled: "We've got your back!"

The crowd cheered loudly and gave standing ovations to Moton and another guest, Ashley Moser, the 26-year-old mother who lost her 6-year-old daughter, Veronica, in the shooting and was herself paralyzed from the waist down. She also suffered a miscarriage.

Strong voices, including that of Hill's mentor, the famous Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House in Dallas, pierced this hot summer night, meant to lift the spirits of Aurora as the one-year anniversary of the July 20 movie theater shooting drew near.

"I've been amazed at the resiliency of our community and how it's pulled together. But the pain is still there," Hill told The Denver Post before the service.

The church called it "A Service of Prayer for Peace: A Commemoration of the 1st Anniversary Aurora Theater Tragedy." An unnamed preacher opened the night with: "Let us never put our trust in man." She was answered by a chorus of "Amen!"

Once the music started, the audience members couldn't keep their seats. Sorrows were drowned by thunderous song.

"You are our first responder," Jakes said in prayer to God. That was met by a roar of approval from the house.

The men lit 13 candles for the 12 shot dead and Moser's unborn child.

"Tonight, we light a candle and curse the darkness in Jesus' name," Jakes repeated after calling out the names of those who died.

Hill, leader of the 6,500-member Potter's House of Denver, said the service was, in part, celebration of the strength of a community rocked by the mass murder and also an attempt to encourage people and to ease the pain of the tragedy.

"And it's a prayer for peace. We've had such a spate of violence in our country," Hill said. He recited a list: Aurora. Newtown. Boston. And now there have been outbreaks of violence in the wake of George Zimmerman's acquittal in Florida.

"We still have people who are dealing with the effects of Columbine," Hill said of the high school shooting 14 years ago.

Hill invited his famous mentor, Jakes — TV preacher and bishop of the original Potter's House, a 30,000-member megachurch in Dallas — because, he said, Jakes is "a great voice" for healing. And Jakes knows about disasters of epic proportions, having ministered to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

"It takes awhile to look beyond the devastation. We can't draw strength from what is lost," Jakes told The Post. "I encourage people to look around for the triumphs in their lives — for the relationships we still have."

"American Idol" finalist George Huff, a member of Potter's House in Dallas, helped raise the roof Wednesday with "The Star Spangled Banner" and, accompanied by the church's Voices from the Mile High Choir, "Crying Out for the Nations."

Mayors Michael Hancock of Denver and Steve Hogan of Aurora attended. Hogan choked out his thanks to the church and the Aurora community.

He said it was more difficult to speak than he thought it would be.

The two cities' police chiefs also were there along with more than a dozen University of Colorado football players.

Hill's Denver church is four miles from the Century Aurora 16, where the slayings took place. He said 60 percent of his congregation lives in Aurora.

In the face of such devastation, Hill said, "Where else can we go but to the church."

The Potter's House of Denver has offered free grief counseling since the shooting.

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